Sunday, August 26, 2007

CD REVIEW - Hostel Part II

Hostel Part IIMusic by Nathan Barr17 Tracks 42:00 mins

I haven't seen either of the Hostel films, which I understand are pretty nasty. Nathan Barr composed the music for both films, continuing his colllaboration with director Eli Roth, started on another shocker, Cabin Fever, and I understand both films carried a full orchestral score, recorded in the Czech Republic and conducted here, at least, by Adam Klemens.The way this album begins you would in fact be hard pressed to realise the music written for the six-minute "Suite ('Amid a Crowd of Stars')" was for a horror film. It begins very lyrically with solo cello and delicate harp accompaniment, before moving along to sweeping strings, then becoming more subdued before ending in a variation on the opening theme. Track two, "Beautiful Skin," continues the theme, starting out delicately, but then it takes a sudden turn to frantic action, ending in a dissonant crescendo. "Train" introduces a frantic action theme for Herrmannesque strings that does indeed move along like a train accelerating. The theme is developed further in "Bidding War."Much of what follows is dark, mysterious and suspenseful, with many dissonant crescendos, but there are a couple of poignant moments along the way, and later tracks do contain some pretty menacing and exciting moments of action, with "Turning Tables" perhaps being the highlight.